India
Britain, Gates Foundation step up funding on TB
By IANS
Jan 31, 2006, 18:48

Britain has committed to give $74 million to help fight tuberculosis (TB) in India, while the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has assured it will triple funding for the global efforts to more than $900 million by 2015.

The announcement of the two funding commitments follows UN publication of the "Global Plan to Stop Tuberculosis", which sets out a plan of action to tackle the global tuberculosis epidemic, according to a statement issued by the WHO Saturday.

"This funding from the UK government and from the Gates Foundation shows real, long-term commitment to the global effort to stop tuberculosis," said Lee Jong-wook, the WHO director-general.

Globally, around two million people die of TB every year and eight million become infected.

Despite India's fastest expanding tuberculosis control programme, and the largest in the world in terms of patients initiated on treatment, every year 1.8 million people develop the disease, of which about 800,000 are infectious; and, until recently, 400,000 died of it - 1,000 every day, according to health ministry data.

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